Sweet Agony
by SetsunaNoroi
Summary: Dora Skirth survived and now is desperate to just be safe with her children and sister. However the symbiote inside of her has other plans involving Eddie and Venom. Dora doesn't want to hurt anyone but is she going to be given much choice? If that wasn't bad enough she's starting to get strange "urges" around Eddie she's not sure how to handle. Rated M for adult relations later


So I saw the Venom film recently and I just loved it. It was fun, silly and there was a lot of great character moments in it, along with a couple surprises I wouldn't have expected. While the film followed a lot of the good cliches, I'm glad it avoided the bad ones that it could have easily put in, like the new male love interest turning into a jackass at the last second in order to get the girl back with the main character. Instead Anne's new boyfriend Dan is a great guy and is even helpful in his own right.

I'd say the only waste the film had was with the character of Dora Skirth. She was adorable, intelligent and awkward, and I'd argue had a better chemistry with Eddie than Anne herself did. The bit in the elevator when Eddie was joking around and she was answering him seriously was terribly cute and funny. Sadly she was killed in a very anti-climatic fashion despite it seeming like there could have been a lot more to her character.

So yeah, this is pretty much just a fic to explore her further and also to ship her and Eddie some, as well as get into her family life. There will be some OCs along with possible bit characters from the comics, human and symbiote alike.

Chapter 1: Agony

Cold, seeping terror filled Dr. Skirth as the glass of the containment unit for the symbiote slid open. Her eyes widened in fear as she watched the alien slip out from the container and make its way down to the floor and pull itself toward her. She couldn't believe this was happening. Regret on top of regret filled her as she scrambled backwards away from the creature.

She never should have stayed here after the alarm had gone off. It would have been smarter to run for it and never look back. She never should have told Eddie about this place, thinking something could have been done about her employer, and she most certainly never have given him up at the assurance from Drake that he could have possibly changed and allow her to save the reporter. For a moment she'd actually been foolish enough to think it could all possibly work out for the best. Now Eddie was somewhere out there, infected with a dangerous symbiote that would no doubt kill him and there was nothing she could do to help him, powerless in the knowledge that she would follow after him in short order.

A scream erupted from her as the slick, bluish purple symbiote suddenly launched itself at her, hitting her with enough force to knock her back in a table of instruments that went crashing underneath of her. She grabbed it, trying to yank the thing off of her lab coat, but it simply slipped through her fingers effortlessly, clinging to her with a strength she never would have attributed to something so small. A sob escaped the doctor as it began to seep into her, the feeling intensely hot and uncomfortable to her skin in a sensation was like she was being burned alive.

Pain hit her in the stomach like a canon ball to the gut, causing her to seize on the linoleum floor as she rolled over onto her front suddenly. Her fist clenched and hit the tile as another scream tore through her, the burning sensation unbearable. Oh god, she was going to die here. She was going to die in this lab and no one was going to help her. Her children would never even know what happened to her, but considering the horrors that she herself had participated in the labs did she even want them too?

"Stop, stop please," she begged as she crawled her way to the door. "Please… please, someone help me..."

The pain in her side was only getting more intense, like something was trying to push its way out of her body. Was the symbiote rejecting her? Would it kill her quickly like the others had when there was no possible match between the alien and host? It felt like acid was building up inside of her, slowly eating away her body with every passing moment. Nearly all her strength was gone by the time she got to the door, weakly clawing at it despite knowing there was no way it could possibly open from the outside. Even pushing herself up in order to reach a panel to let her out, even if it had been inside the room, was beyond her know.

' **Just relax. We have a plan,** ' was the last thing she heard before she fell unconscious from the pain. Everything else was a blanket of darkness over her, breaking her away completely from the waking world as she was discovered by the others and declared dead along with the symbiote.

It was not until hours later that she roused, gasping for breath and looking around quickly. There was not enough air, not enough space. Her hands reached out and felt plastic under her fingers the consistency of fabric along with a zipper but it was too dark to see anything else. Realization hit her like a strike of lightning as she realized she was in a body bag. Had they thought she was dead?

' **We have devised an escape,** ' a voice hissed in her head.

"Whoa! Wh-who said that?" she gasped out before her arms shot out without her consent and grabbed the bag, ripping it open with ease before sitting up quickly. A feeling like vomit gurgling up her throat made her clap a hand to her mouth before it was suddenly yanked down against her will. The sounds she was making had alerted the only other person in the morgue with her, one of the other scientists working for the Life Foundation. Before she even had a chance to say a word something came up through her throat as she spit out at them and hit them, causing them to scream as they fell to the floor.

"OH GOD!" she screamed as she tried to make her limbs work under her own power, fighting to disentangle herself from the bag as she leaped from the table and ran to the doctor. The sight was too much for her as she saw the woman laying out on the floor, acid eating away at her torso and exposing her insides. There was little doubt that she was dead. "Oh god, oh god… no. This can't be happening..."

Fear enveloped her as she stared at the sight. Just what was going on here? However before she even had time to think any of it over she felt herself stand and begin to run for the door, quickly putting in the code to open it before she was sprinting down the hall against her will. She would have thought there would be someone that would try to stop her but it was oddly quiet in the halls, no one around at all, not even anyone on security detail.

Just as she reached the labs to take an elevator to the top floor, she suddenly stopped, nearly toppling over from the unexpected halt.

' **Someone around the corner. Someone dangerous,'** the voice hissed in her mind. ' **Stay away.** '

Despite all the insanity she'd experienced in the last few minutes of her life, she was inclined to listen. Whatever was going on, she certainly didn't want to be caught again, but the soft sound of sniffling gave her pause. It sounded like someone was crying. Was someone in trouble? She just couldn't ignore it.

She was somehow able to creep closer, which surprised her. She wouldn't have thought she'd have any control over her body right now, especially against the thing whispering in her head. Still, she was able to move under her own power, for now at least. Walking slowly around the corner, she looked around for the source of the noise. For a few moments she didn't see anything until she heard another sniffle and looked down. Underneath one of the tables she glanced at small feet that would match the size of a child. Dread filled her immediately as she stooped down to get a better look. Had Carlton Drake really stooped so low as to start snatching up children?

The little girl didn't look homeless though. Her dress was in pristine order and clean, and besides for her face messy with tears and slightly uncombed blond hair, she looked none the worse for wear. It didn't fill Dora with much hope though, since it only proved she wasn't an urchin off the street but gave her no clue about the girl's identity.

"Honey, are you okay?" she asked softly. "What are you doing here?"

Despite the girl being so small and obviously frightened, a sense of unease was welling up inside of her. She couldn't understand why. The girl clearly wasn't dangerous in any way no matter what that voice in her head had been telling her.

Though listening to voices in your head was never very smart, no matter what the circumstances might be. Her shock and confusion over the situation had given her pause on her rationality, but she wasn't going to allow herself to lose control to whatever was happening to her. She thought of her own two children, lost and scared in a place like this, and it only strengthened her resolve to get this little girl to safety.

"My name is Dora Skirth, I'm a doctor," she tried again. "What's your name, sweetie?"

The girl didn't stop crying, but rubbed at her eyes and looked up at the doctor. The poor little thing looked terrified so Dora did her best not to push her too fast. Despite being in danger herself, she didn't want to scare the girl more than she already was.

"Suzie..." she said softly.

"Okay, Suzie. How did you get here?" she asked, but the question only caused the girl's lips to start trembling, like she would start to wail.

"Okay, okay. Never mind," she said, trying to sound soothing. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

' **She was taken here. This girl has the marks of a host.** '

Those words filled her with dread. Realization was starting to dawn on her over just what was going on, but she didn't want to believe it. Something was clearly inside of her, talking to her, controlling her actions even if only partially. She'd just killed a person a short while ago, and just under the surface she could feel a very real urge to panic. She had a feeling the only reason she hadn't curled up into a fetal position and started crying herself was because whatever was inside of her wouldn't allow it. How long would it even allow her to stay her with the little girl before it ripped control back and forced her to leave?

Dora thrust her hand out to the little girl, offering it before anything stopped her.

"I'll get you out of here," she promised. "You want to go back home, right? To your parents?"

"I want my mommy," she whispered softly, her voice on the edge of breaking.

"We'll find your mommy," Dora promised as the girl took her hand. She wasn't small enough for Dora to be able to carry, so she just kept a tight grip on her as she coaxed the child out from underneath the table and started to walk with new purpose, quickly but at an easy enough pace Suzie would be able to follow without much trouble.

She still had to wonder why no one was around. It didn't make any sense to her how she couldn't have found anyone at all. Just where was everyone? Surely someone would have caught her by now, yet even when she made it outside of the building with her charge, no one arrived to stop her or question where she was going.

Stopping just outside the building, she wondered if her luck would hold. Could she just get in her car and drive off? Surely there would still be someone at the gate to check her identity, especially with Eddie's break in. How long ago had that been? She'd sadly lost all sense of time since she'd been out of it. The sky was dark, clearly night time, but that told her next to nothing. Had an entire day passed or just a few hours?

Alone, she just would have risked it, gotten into her car and drove through the barrier if she had to, but that would certainly terrify the poor girl who was now with her and it seemed like she had been put through more than enough. Besides, the security personnel had been doing everything they could to find Eddie and would surely come after her too before too long. She had to do this smart and not attract any attention to herself in order to buy the both of them as much time as possible.

"Sweetie?" she asked as she knelt down next to the girl. "Listen to me very carefully. I need you to help me, okay? We're going to get you home, but I need to ask you a couple of things. Okay?"

The girl sniffled again but nodded her head slowly.

"Good. Listen, we need to get away from here but we need to be as quiet as possible. We're going to sneak away through the woods and then I'm going to take you home," she explained. "Do you know where you live?"

"San Francisco," she replied softly.

"Yes, honey. I had a feeling that was the case, but I need an address," she stated. "San Francisco is a big place. Do you know what street it's on?"

The little girl just shook her head.

"Mommy and I were moving here," she explained, sounding scared. "I don't know where."

"A phone number. Do you know the number of your mommy?" she asked, clutching at straws. Surely the girl had to know that at least. Thankfully, she brightened up and nodded her head happily.

"Okay, good. Listen, as soon as we're away from here, I'm going to call her and get you home safe and sound," she promised. "Until then, you have to stay very quiet. Understand?"

The girl nodded her head again and followed as Dora made her way into the woods. The voice hadn't said anything again to her yet so she assumed she was safe to make the decisions for now. She still didn't understand just why it had told her the girl was dangerous but for now she didn't have much choice but to just keep going. Holding onto the girl with one hand, she patted her pockets down for her phone with the other. Luckily her cell was still in her coat. She could only feel lucky that Drake had not seen fit to confiscate it from her. Then again, she'd already given Eddie up so what need would he have had for it.

The thought of Eddie flooded her with guilt all over again. How could she have done this to him? First dragging him into this whole mess and then giving him up to her employer? She'd never intended for him to get infected, never meant for any of this to happen. All that he was supposed to do was go in, take some pictures to prove his story and then get out. Instead this had blown up in both of their faces and he most likely would die because of her.

She made a mental note in her checklist to reach out to him to offer help when she could. Get Suzie to safety, get to her own children and then collect Eddie. Maybe they could go on the run while she figured out just what to do. Maybe she could get the symbiote out of him, get it contained somewhere safe without her insane boss deciding to feed people to it.

Trekking into the woods, she told herself just to follow the shoreline to ensure the pair of them didn't get lost. Despite being an employee for the Life Foundation, she had never really been back here before and didn't want to risk getting turned around. Suzie stayed fairly quiet, which was good because Dora needed to concentrate on where they were going. Since it was so dark out and with no lights to guide them but the stars and moon, she had to move slowly to make sure they followed the right way to get out of here.

Feeling that they were far enough away, she pulled the phone from her pocket. Once she got to a road she'd be able to get to a cab to pick the two of them up and get the girl away safely. First though, she needed to get in contact with the girl's mother.

"Okay, I need to know that number now," she said as they reached the edge of the woods. "Can you tell me?"

Suzie recited the number to her, slowly and carefully. Patting her on the head for her good work, she was about to dial it when her plans were interrupted by a sudden explosion above their heads. Suzie screamed in terror as Dora looked up suddenly, the sky ablaze behind them. She stared in horror as she saw the Life Foundation rocket shooting up into the sky only to suddenly burst into an inferno.

Before she even thought about it, she was dialing 911, terrified out of her mind. Without any idea of what was going on, she had to get help now. After only a single ring, someone answered but she interrupted before anyone could even ask what the emergency was.

"I need someone at the Life Foundation, now!" she cried out. "Please, there's just been an explosion! The rocket went up in flames!"

Before she could explain further, she suddenly found herself throwing her phone away as far as she could. Grabbing the little girl around her waist, Dora hefted her up and started running toward the road, unable to reassure her even as she started to cry out in panic for her mother.

"What are you doing?!" Dora demanded to the thing that was controlling her. "Stop, you're scaring her!"

Her body was no longer listening to her though, refusing to bend to even a single command. The doctor found herself out on the road just as a car came around the corner, lights flashing in her eyes. Suzie screamed again but it stopped right before hitting the pair of them, the driver sticking his head out of the car to yell at the pair.

"The hell are you doing in the middle of the road?! You want to get hit?!" the man yelled before Dora shoved the little girl towards his car and took off back into the woods.

"What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled out even as she sprinted among the trees. "We can't just leave her like that!"

' **She will be fine! The police are already close! We will not get caught again!** ' the voice yelled into her mind with enough force to hurt. If she hadn't been running so fast, she might have clapped her hands to her ears in an attempt to make it stop. ' **We must find the rocket. See if there are survivors. We have to find Riot.** '

"Riot? Who's Riot?"

' **Enough. No more questions. As long as you do not distract us with any more useless running around, we shall allow your survival, but only if you cooperate.** '

Dora still had questions, but she had a feeling they wouldn't have any answers, so she kept quiet for now. Fears were beginning to flood her about the symbiote who had attacked her. She hadn't wanted to acknowledge it, but she was more than certain she knew what was currently inside of her and moving her body around like a puppet. Out of breathe and her body burning from the inside out, she reached the other end of the woods in mere minutes to see the damage of the rocket. The water of the bay was on fire, bits of metal debris floating about. She wasn't sure just what had happened, but whatever it was had not been a good thing. Had anyone been on the rocket? Nothing had been scheduled for a launch, yet something told her something horrible had happened.

"Just what are you looking for?" she asked softly. The bay was still far away enough that she couldn't make out fine details, but the voice in her head was suddenly very quiet. "Is there anyone down there?"

' **Not anymore.** '

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nothing but silenced answered her, leaving her feeling very confused. Part of her wanted to go down there, to try to see if she could do something to help, but she couldn't force herself to move and it wasn't just the symbiote holding her in place. Drake had tried to kill her, almost had. She was lucky to be away from there and going back now would surely be suicide. Even as she heard sirens approaching, she knew it wouldn't be safe to be down there. At best she'd be taken away on am ambulance, worst a squad car, questioned over what had happened. With the police coming there would be an investigation. A rocket just didn't explode like that with nobody asking questions and as a high ranking employee they would most certainly want to talk to her. She was better off away from all of this.

She had to get away, had to get help somehow. Thoughts of getting back to her kids filled her, but would they be safe around her? She'd been forced to discard Suzie like she'd been nothing, and she was not in any way okay with that. Even knowing by now the police had to have found her and would get her home safely was no conciliation without seeing it for herself but that clearly was not allowed now. What would this symbiote force her to do with her own children if she brought it anywhere near them?

Her forehead hit the bark of the tree, thankful at least she knew they were safe. Before going to find Eddie to get his help she had left her two children with her sister to be babysat. For now it would have to be enough. She might be on limited time anyway, with the alien inside of her. The most any of the humans had lasted was a few days, and she didn't even know how long it had been inside of her now. The clock was most definitely ticking against her. She needed a plan and fast.

Peering out at the water, she almost thought she saw something moving past the debris. The fire kept it alight but in the dancing shadows and along with the distance made it hard to make anything out. Something or someone was moving towards the shore, but she couldn't make out who it was.

It didn't seem to matter as a scream suddenly erupted inside of her mind, causing her to cry out and fall to her knees. Gasping out in pain, she clutched at her head and tried to make it stop. Nails dug into her hair as she shook her head, the angry wailing in her head refusing to stop.

"Please! Please, what do you want?!" she screamed out.

' **Him. It's his fault. He stranded us here!** '

She felt herself forced to her feet and began stalking out of the thicket of woods, having no idea where she was going.

"H-hey! Just what's going on?" she asked in shock. "Where are you taking me?"

' **We have access to your memories. Be thankful you are such a good match for us. We would have discarded you otherwise like the other half rotten bodies that were fed to us. You are useful though, and will remain useful.** '

"What's that supposed to mean?"

' **It means that we have unfinished business to attend to, and you will bring us there, whether you want to or not. Eddie Brock is going to pay for what he has just done.** '

That didn't bode well for anyone, but it seemed whatever control she'd had over herself was now completely gone. Fighting against the power influencing her seemed to do no good as she walked purposefully out of the woods, her destination seeming to be firmly set whether she liked it or not.

End of Chapter

Well, there we have it. A little short, but no worries. The chapters will be getting longer. As it is, this is mostly a prologue than anything. What did you guys think? Hopefully it's intriguing and a good read so far. Let me know what you think in the comments. I'd love some feedback.


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